Waking up could be worse
by Hopeless377
Summary: She was laying in the middle of the road for goodness sakes, he couldn't just leave her. least of all when she just keeps staring at him like she knows him. and she justs wants to go home and get out of this crazy reality, where she knows hes waiting.
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was weird.

She knew it was safe when she first looked, so where did the car come from? She had turned to wave to him, to tell him that she would be fine walking home alone. The tires screeched against the pavement. It all happened in slow motion; she saw him raise his hand in response to her and the smile faded from his face while his eyes grew wide in horror. She was completely focused on his face; that may have been why her body didn't register the trauma when it happened.

Her brain was all jumbled because the next vision she was able to decipher was that he was much closer than before. His long, light brown hair tickled her face as he leaned over her with a painful, tear-stained face and cradled her in his arms. His mouth moved but she heard nothing in the silent world that now encased her. She didn't like his tears. They hurt her even in her senseless state. She raised her hand to wipe them away, realizing how difficult it was to move her limb. When her fingers brushed his cheek his eye snapped open revealing the fear and hurt in his vision. She smiled her best smile up at those tormented eyes, trying her best to hold his gaze through the flashing of lights.

Blood was seeping into his designer suit as he held her for dear life, chanting unheard words to her. She slowly let her eyes slide closed to block out the world, a smile still gracing her face. The last thing she saw through the blue and red was his tear stained face calling out to her in all his anguish. When her lids touched she couldn't find the strength to force them open again. She prayed that he would be ok. That man who held her with so gently, who she loved for all she was worth. She prayed he would not be in pain.

All consciousness slipped from her at the only sound that finally penetrated the quite, his desperate cry.

"Ageha!"

* * *

_Else Where_

He couldn't believe he was late! He was never late on finishing his projects. A sigh escaped him as he thought of how this would tarnish the record he had created of these particular situations.

As he scrambled around the house desperately searching for everything he would need, he noticed the clock on the counter…7 o'clock. That was weird his watched said it was 8. He looked again, no it still said 8. _'Why does one say 8 and the other 7?' _Then it hit him, his son had realized he forgot to set his alarm so he pushed his watch time forward an hour so he wouldn't take forever to get ready. He chuckled at his sons antics and was grateful at least one of them was smart enough to remember his deadlines.

Grabbing the car keys, he locked the door and walked to the street where his car was parked. There was a rather large object laying in the middle of the road. He would have left it if he wasn't such a good samaritan, so leaving the things in his car he walked over to remove the object. What shocked him was that it wasn't just a piece of trash laying there, but young lady collapsed on the ground.

Running over to the lady, he knelt down onto the black asphalt to inspect her for injuries. She was pale beyond what was healthy and wasn't responsive to his attempts to wake her, but otherwise no harm seemed done. Looking around for anything lying on the ground that might help him in identifying the girl, but there was nothing, he went back to looking at the girl. Not even an id card, just her. On the ground. In the middle of the road. Racking his brain for what to do, he settled on picking her off the ground and carring her back to the house.

He fumbled with his keys as he tried to balance the girl and fishing them out of his pocket at the same time, almost dropping them before he could get them to turn in the door. But kicking the door open with his foot, not caring about the keys, and walked in to the lounge. Laying the girl on one of the twin couches and hurried to get a cold cloth to put on her forehead.

His mind swirled with questions about why this person was passed out in the middle of the street and how she ended up there without anyone noticing or trying to help. Resting the wet fabric on her head, he looked at the clock hanging behind the couch on the wall. It was already 7:45! He needed to get moving or he really would be late.

He looked from the girl laying unconscious before him over to the front door. His he hurried maybe she would be okay, as long as she stayed asleep. Making a decision, he found some paper and scribbled a short note encase she woke up and left it on the table in the lounge. Moving to the door again, he cast one last look at the girl before he ran to his car, praying she wouldn't have to wake up alone in a strange place.

Index

_italic's- persons inner thoughts_

"..."- speech


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_"AGEHA!"_

Her ears were still ringing from those last words that were granted to her, head still reeling from the crash. Groggily aware of the cold feeling on her forehead, Ageha thought back on what happened. '_The car, the blood, the lack of pain…Arisaka's tears…they hit me. I...died…' _The pain in her head forced her to come out of her thoughts and made the migraine apparent. _'Wait, if I'm dead, then why do I have this splitting headache?' _Casting her mind out, she flexed her fingers first, then her toes, followed by her feet, and continued till every piece of her body moved. That was weird to her, because if she had indeed died, then she would not be able to move these limbs.

Ageha ventured, testing her eyes to open them. The first light that spilled through the cracked lids was bright enough to blind her momentarily causing her eyes to shut again. The light was even harsh to her closed lids so she forced them open again and willed them to remain that way. It stung, to keep her eyes open to allow them to adjust back to the point where she could see. But she kept them open, surveying the room she now rested in. _'I'm inside V.B.R.'_ the lounge to be exact. _'Maybe it was all a dream, being hit by the car. I'm here, I still feel everything, aren't you supposed to go to a big fluffy white world when you die? Then why am I in V.B.R. if I'm dead? It must have been a dream, a really scary, freaky dream.'_

Staring around the room gave Ageha a weird feeling, like something was off. Placing her feet on the ground, she swayed slightly on the couch from blood rushing to her head. Staying seated, Ageha tried to pin point what made this lounge feel so different then it normally was. It felt like it was missing the main components that created her second home. Shaking her head she went to stand. She wobbled a bit but regained her balance quickly by holding the arm of the sofa. Taking a slow steps forward on unsteady feet she walked halfway to the hallway when her legs gave out, sending he to the ground with a loud bang. Rubbing her face where it had hit the cold ground, she fought to keep back the tears.

The sound of things being dropped echoed her fall as the front door burst open and the sound of running footsteps reached her ears. Concentrating her dizzy gaze on the entrance way, Ageha prepared her apology speech. But the face that turned the corner had her throat clenching closed.

It was the face she had grown to love and cherish staring back at her, but it lacked the scowl that made it famous. This face showed a variety of emotions she never thought she would see twice. Worry scrunched his eyebrow, relief softened his eyes, and a warm smile graced those beautiful lips. It wasn't only the face that was wrong; the normally shoulder length honey brown hair was now longer, pulled back in a high ponytail and still reaching almost to his lower back. That gentle look mirrored the one she knew so well, but lacked the fiery personality behind them. But those different, yet familiar eyes kept gazing at her happily without a care in the world.

This was not her Arisaka-san.

The clone that stood before opened his mouth to speak when the door burst open again, startling them both. Turning to face the front entrance with a confused look, the man was barreled over by a blur of black and white. Tumbling to the ground with the one who clung to him, he let out an 'off' upon landing with the extra weight. The high pitched squealing that followed hurt Ageha's ears, but was able to make out the words that accompanied the squeal.

"Aoi-san! I LOVE YOU! MARRY ME!" Ageha stared at the high school girl that had literally just glomped the man and was now sitting on top of his sprawled out form on the ground. _'Is that how I sound when I come to see Arisaka-san?' _The man, Aoi-san, rubbed the back of his head where it had smacked the floor. He looked to be grimacing a bit, but held his tongue as he tried to sit up again finding it difficult with the weight of the teenager sitting on his legs. Finding that it was impossible to accomplish in his current situation he sighed in exasperation. Ageha stared at the girl who was smiling ear to ear down at Aoi-san. She looked really familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on who she reminded her of.

"Ririko-chan, could you please let me up. I'm getting to old to have you jumping me every time you walk through the door." He sighed again while shaking his head. Having sat through the whole incident with no reaction, Ageha's mouth dropped open. _'Ririko? Wait, Aoi? Holy crap, these people can't be…'_ She was having a serious mental breakdown and it must have shown on her face (like always) because Aoi-san continued, "And see what you did? You frightened my poor guest into a stupor."

The high school Ririko looked over into the living room and spotted Ageha staring. For the slightest of seconds Ageha saw the evilest look cross Ririko's face before it settled into an innocent smile. Ageha shivered with dread as a creeping feeling of being threatened settled over her. She quirked a strained smile in response, _'Is this what Arisaka-san meant when he feels weird about Nat-chan? Cause if it is, then I really owe him.'_ There were some serious sparks flying from this girl and none of which Ageha wanted to get hit with, so she pulled a Kana-san and stank away from her look. Aoi-san saw that as got another worried look on his face before turning a reprimanding scowl to Ririko, which she returned with an innocent puppy-dog face. Ageha was trying to disappear into the floor; the last thing she wanted was to get on the bad side of Ririko is this was the same Ririko she knew. But that's where she got confused again. How could they be the same person, Ririko was older and Aoi-san wasn't even alive. So, how could this be happening? A small voice in the back of her head answered her, _'the crash.'_

Ageha was starting to make some sense of the possibility of having been thrown back in time (which sounded crazy even to her) when a light touch on her shoulder made her jump. Looking up she saw that Aoi-san had finally freed himself from Ririko and had ventured over to her with a questioning look in his eyes. "I'm sorry to have scared you. Are you alright?"

Ageha could see a sulking Ririko over his shoulder as he offered his hand to help her up. Looking between him, his hand, and Ririko, she reluctantly took the offer and was helped back to the couch. Now safely seated on the soft cushions, Aoi-san knelt in front of her to check how her head was. "Now can you tell me who you are and why you were laying in the middle of the road?"

Ageha stared at him before dropping her eyes to the floor. She was debating on whether to make something up or tell him the truth. _'How crazy would he think I am if I told him that? Maybe he would believe me…' _She took one last long look into his eyes before deciding what to do. Taking a deep breath, she began, "My name is Ageha and I'm…."

She let the sentence trail off. She wasn't looking at Aoi-san anymore, but rather over his shoulder at a young child that had just walked in. He was observing the scene before him with mild interest when his child's gaze locked with hers. Time seemed to slow down around Ageha and the boy, while they looked at each other. Then his wide gaze shifted into a scowl. A beautiful scowl that had been etched into her memory on the face so handsome it could be mistaken as an angel.

The world spun around her while she continued to lock gazes with this small boy. The name that came to the fore-front of her mind, resonated inside her mind until it was felt like her head would burst. Then the world fell around her, eclipsing her in a black abyss.

Arisaka-san.


	3. Chapter 2

She fell straight onto him. Aoi caught her before she could completely collapse off the couch and positioned her so she was lying back in a seated position. The distinct sound of Ririko snarling in jealousy went unmentioned; clearly she was just showing her displeasure at the young lady landing on him. Any other time Ririko would have been on her feet and to the injured in seconds, but that just goes to show how serious teenagers took their crushes. But Aoi was worried something might be hurt worse than just a small bump on the head.

"What's going on?" Looking over his shoulder at the doorway, Aoi saw his son standing there perplexed at the strange woman that just fainted on his father. His son was his spitting image from when he was a child, from his honey brown hair to his amber eyes. In the back of his mind he always wondered if he would look like him when he was older, but that wasn't at the fore-front of Aoi's mind. So he just shook his head that he didn't know.

"Your daddy brought in this stray and was trying to get her to talk, but then you walked in a scared her Yukari-chan." Ririko was smiling one of her evil smiles at his son, chuckling slightly. Yukari snorted, even at 11 years old did he have such a stern domineer or was it just he looked stern?

"She's not a cat, Ririko-san. And dad had to have had a good reason for having her here." If there was one thing he could say about it his son, it was that Yukari always had a comeback when it came to Ririko. Yukari walked over to where Aoi was kneeling and peered at the lady. "So, what was the reason exactly?"

"I found her collapsed in the street this morning on my way out. She wasn't conscious until I had come back just before you two arrived. She said her name was Ageha, but then she fainted before I could get anything else." _'Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder why she gave us her first name.'_

"And you don't call that a stray?" Aoi was really starting to get annoyed by Ririko and her jealousy issues. So instead of offering an answer he just looked rolled his eyes as looked at his son. A look that they had shared before that read as a 'get rid of her' and Yukari was quick to reply with a 'why me' look. Narrowing his eyes, Aoi gave him a stern look as if ordering his son to do as he was told. Sighing, Yukari rose from his place on the floor and spun to glare defiantly at Ririko.

"What's wrong with you? If you're not going to be of any help, then get your lazy butt out of here. We have enough to deal with, without your demands for attention!" Harsh as Aoi thought his son was being, it did the job because Ririko visibly wilted for her rebellious posture and walked into the kitchen. She came back a minute later with a freshly wet cloth and handed it to Yukari before she settled for standing behind the couch. Giving her a snort, Yukari turned back to the girl and put the cloth on her forehead then looked at his father. "What do you think happened to her?"

Aoi stared at the girl he had carried out of the road in wonderment. Nothing he could think of would have left her virtually unharmed, but still completely out cold like she was. Shaking his head, Aoi offered what he could, "I'm not sure how she ended up in the road. It doesn't look like she's been starved or hurt besides that bump on her head. The only thing I can think of is that she suffered some sort of trauma and wondered until she collapsed. We can only wait for her to wake up again and ask."

"Why did she faint like that in the first place?" Ririko muttered quietly, like one would if someone is sleeping nearby. "Did we do something wrong?"

"Once again, I can't answer that. But she was pretty overwhelmed before either of you showed up. She kept staring at me like she wanted to say something but couldn't." Rising for his seat, Aoi continued to stare down as the strange girl named Ageha. He left the room, picking up the phone from its cradle he began to dial the number for the police. This was beyond him; let the authorities deal with her. The ringing cut short abruptly by Ririko pressing the receiver on the cradle, Aoi gave her a confused look. "What are you doing?"

"Me? I'm stopping you from calling the police. What are you doing?" She answered casually.

"Calling the Police to come help her. What do you think we can do for her, she obviously experienced something traumatic or she wouldn't have ended up in the middle of the road." Aoi was staring at Ririko like she should be think the same thing, but it was obvious that she didn't.

Ririko gave him a hard look, staring him straight at in the eye for a while before sighing. "Listen Aoi-san, this girl is seriously lost, how do you think the police will handle this? They will come here, take her away, and then we can all go on with our lives. But I know you're not that kind of man that can just let the police take care of this. Let's just see what the girl has to say when she wakes up, that's all I ask."

"I thought you didn't like helping anything other than cats, well unless it helps you in return." Aoi continued to hold the phone prepared to dial. He couldn't understand how Ririko, who was usually very protective of women entering the shop that weren't getting married, would want to help this stranger. "Ririko, this isn't something we shouldn't get involved in."

"Then why did you pull her off the street this morning? Hmm" She gave him a look and continued, "See this through Aoi-san, that's the kind of person I'm sure you are and who you raise your son to be."

She left him after that. And reluctantly Aoi put back the phone leaving his hand on it like he was still contemplating calling, but knew that Ririko was right. He wasn't the kind of person to leave things unfinished and he had started something when he brought that girl in. What he started he didn't know, but he had an feeling it wasn't something that he was ready for. He jolted from his spot in the hall by his son.

He looked up at Aoi and Aoi knew that he had to do this to set an example for his son. That strict expression that hinted with an underlying loneliness stared back at him, probably reflecting the same hidden feelings, when Yukari spoke. "She's waking up."


	4. Chapter 3

She really needed to stop passing out, her blood was starting to pound in her ears. Waking up this time had been pretty much like the last time: light too bright, a cloth on her head, recognizing the room, etc.. Ageha was just about to swing her legs off the couch when people walked in, the same people that surprised her so bad that she fainted. This time she held her mind and stared back at them through wide eyes. They seemed to be wary to approach her and the man was taking cautious steps toward where she was, waiting for her to react. _Way to go you numbskull, you freaked them out with your fainting and now they're afraid to approach you. _Her inner Arisaka-san was scolding her for her foolishness.

Ageha took in the man carefully as he slowly made his way to her. He was like Arisaka-san in every way possible, but there was this natural warmth that radiated off him that invited you in. Not to say that Arisaka- san didn't have it, his was just more prominent. But being a tad slow on the uptake from the lack of conciseness, she hadn't processed what happened before until just that minute. She stared at him for a minute and then proceeded to freeze up, freaking out on the inside. _This isn't happening! Arisaka-san's father! And Ririko-san! She's so young and that kid is… _

Ageha was bout near ready to shut down, but her inner Arisaka-san was yelling at her to calm down and assess the situation. Seeing that it was good advice, she took a deep breath and focused on the older Arisaka coming towards her. He locked eyes with her and held her gaze while he approached her. "How are you feeling?"

She looked at him a moment, trying to decided how she wanted to approached this. Choosing to nod instead of trusting her voice, she watched over his shoulder at the two lingering just beyond the doorway. Following her gaze, he half turned away from her. "Please don't be frightened. This just my son and a friend of the family, they won't hurt you."

_Who would ever think that? _Faced scrunched up in thought. Shaking her head at the statement and sighing earned her a confused look from the rest of them. "Do you know what happened to me?"

A look passed between the three before returning their attention to her with a skeptical look in two of the three sets of eyes. Raising and eyebrow in confusion, Ageha tried to remember what was going on before the dark took over. Flashes of fragmented memories assaulted her thoughts, things she already knew and remembered. Things like the car and Arisaka-san, but nothing on how she ended up exchanging looks with the past. The need to know how she got here was starting to rise, followed by panic over the situation. None of them were saying anything to her and she was starting to get fidgety under their gaze.

"You mean…you don't remember?" Ageha looked up at Ririko's question then flashed her gaze back into her lap. Clutching her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to ward off a headache that was forming. The flashes were starting to hurt her head coupled with having to figure out the situation she was in.

Choosing her words carefully for one of the few times in her life, leaving out curtain things, she answered. "I remember leaving a place…maybe a home, or it felt like home. The horn..the car…tears. Someone was crying and there was red. And I mean a lot of red." _I think it might be best to frame amnesia. This would just be way too hard to explain that I'm from future. No, but to play the memory loss card. _Ageha was proud of herself for thinking to quick on her feet because it looked like they were actually buying it.

There was a silence that followed her statement that was almost unnerving. The air was heavy as the three other persons in the room exchanged nervous glances. When Aoi-san finally turned his full attention back to Ageha, he gave a skeptical look. "There wasn't any blood on you or near you this morning. You were just alone in the street. Are you sure that you didn't just get lost and trip and hit your head?"

Mentally smacking herself for not thinking about her physical appearance, she pulled her 'get me out of trouble look'. Tilting her head to the side and widening her eyes, she returned his skeptical look with one of pure innocent confusion. _Arisaka-san gets so mad when I do this because he knows I'm up to something. Heres to hoping he didn't inherit that six sense from his father. Now for a little embellishment._ After a second of locked eyes, she broke down into tears (fake tears) that startled the other occupants.

That did it. Skeptical or not, she knew that no Arisaka could resist a crying girl.


End file.
